title: [Latent heterogeneity of prognosis among cancer patients].
abstract: There is a considerable variation in individual lifespan among cancer patients with identical diagnosis. We used damped exponential approximation, which includes both single- and double-compartment extension, for radiobiological assessment of survival curves among cases of breast, lung and oro-pharyngeal cancer. It was shown that in certain cases (breast--T2N1-2M0T3N1-2M0 and oro-pharyngeal cancer--T2-4N1-3M0) the curves can be identified with the two compartments which in turn are associated with different rates of mortality. The remaining curves represented either the slow rate (breast cancer--T1N1-2M0) or the fast one (non-small lung cancer) alone. The mean values of the fast or slow mortality differed 7-fold with high probability; they were stable and almost independent of tumor site or therapeutic modality. The double-rate curves pointed to a possible wide range of prognosis prior to treatment.
authors.forename: T N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Bochkareva
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Ekimova
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Nemkova
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Sokurenko
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Shutko
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D009959:Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D012426:Russia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016019:Survival Analysis